Illusion Block Quilt

Jennifer sent me this striking quilt.  It is a gift for her teenaged son.  She used the Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial called the "Illusion Block Quilt" for the pattern.

Jennifer chose the "Hall of Mirrors" panto.  It seems if I suggest this panto, it gets selected.  It has nice clean lines, with just enough going on to make it interesting without being distracting.  I choose a dark navy So Fine thread as I didn't like when the thread showed up too much on the black.

Ii had trouble deciding which way was right side up! 

Tickle

The "Tickle" pantograph by Beany Girl Designs  is one of my favorite pantographs and is always very popular with my clients.  Last winter I quilted this lovely quilt for Donna.  It was a Christmas gift for her mom Jane. 

Jane just brought me these extra blocks, that are going to be turned into pillow shams.

Bonnie recently gave me this 1600/jellyroll race quilt and I thought "Tickle" would be the perfect choice for it too.

I am not usually a big variegated thread user, but this quilt was just calling for it.

I love how the quilting shows up on the more solid Stonehenge backing.

Quarter Sections

I recently attended a family wedding and I am proud to say that the gift was this version of our Quarter Sections pattern - made and quilted by me and ready in time for the big day!

I wasn't familiar with the bride and groom's colour scheme in their house, but I thought that this neutral palette would fit in nicely in most modern homes.

I used 16 fat quarters and about 2m of border and binding fabric all from my stash.  Quarter Sections comes together quickly for those times when you want to make something but don't have a lot of time.

I used a new panto on this one called "Zephyr" by Lorien Quilting.

 I love the photo above, it really makes me think of the aerial view of the prairies that gave the pattern it's name.

I am excited to report that the paper copies of our new Highway 10 Designs pattern are packaged up and ready to go. Available in the Etsy store or from me personally is you are local!

Ohio Stars

Reneta is the creator of this Ohio Star Quilt. It is going to be donated to her nephew to be used as a raffle quilt to raise funds for his Honduras Mission work through Memorial University in Newfoundland.

I thought this one called for some simple custom quilting to finish it off.  Reneta used one of my Stonehenge backing fabric and the quilting shows off really nicely on the back.

And of course we need a shot of the whole thing.  I hope they are able to raise lots of money for wells and medical care.

City Slicker- a new pattern by Highway 10 Designs

I am very excited to share the latest pattern from Highway 10 Designs.  It is called City Slicker and it is our first jelly roll friendly pattern.  There are two size options included in the pattern.  The cover quilt shows the smaller of the two. City Slicker is a beginner friendly pattern, and as always we have included lots of diagrams and pressing instructions that we have heard our customers appreciate. The PDF downloadable pattern is currently available in our Etsy Store, and paper copies will be available soon.

Three samples of City Slicker  have been made while writing and testing this pattern.  Kathy pieced and quilted this version using a Jinny Beyer Malam Batik Roll. 

When Kathy and I were together at a quilt retreat at Fabriculous in Swan River, Manitoba in September and again last week, we worked together to piece the store sample made from the "For You" jelly roll by Moda.

I had the pleasure of making the cover quilt using a Hoffman Bali Pop in the Tidepool colorway.

I knew I wanted to do some custom quilting on this one from the moment the blocks started coming together.  The center rectangular shape is not one that you encounter very often, so it took a bit of thinking, but this motif seemed like just the right thing.

I added some curls and melon shapes in the light frame, and stitched in the ditch to keep everything nice and crisp.

And finally an elongated egg and dart motif in the colorful cross pieces.

I just love how the back of the quilt looks too!

To hear the other side of the Highway 10 Designs story about the making of City Slicker, check out what Kathy has to say on her Tamarack Shack blog.